ON WITH THE SHOW by Whispering Jack

Tomorrow, I hope to make it to training for the first time in over a year and with the anticipation of that event, I'm feeling a bit like a kid again.

Back in those days (when I was a kid), I was an unabashed fan of Bugs Bunny whose character has been described as personifying "supreme heroism" and "humanity's aspirations to prevail over all difficulties and antagonists". Let's not forget that Bugs' heyday was back in the 50s and 60s when Melbourne was highly successful in fighting evil and winning premierships.

Well, after enduring what was a very painful season in 2012 and having then to put up with sheer nastiness over the off season from characters like Caroline Wilson (I liken her to Elmer Fudd complete with shotgun at the ready to blow the brains out of our beloved Demons) and other media antagonists like Jon "Pepe Le Pew" Pierik, Jay "Hippety Hopper" Clark and Greg "Daffy Duck" Denham, it will be refreshing to go down to AAMI Park to watch some actual footballers, even if it's just to while away an hour or so watching the players do some pre season training drills.

And how appropriate it is that the session is taking place in the shadows of Rod Laver Arena as they pack up the remnants of the tennis and close enough to the G where the curtain is about to fall on an uninspiring summer of cricket? Those sports are virtually done and dusted and the footy season beckons.

All that's needed now is for the AFL head honcho Foghorn Leghorn Vlad to light up his exploding cigar and blow away the iniquitous tanking inquisition and the universe will once again be in harmony.

But that's for another time and place and for now, I want to tick some (match) boxes.

I want to see the box ticked that shows the players improving in their KPI's. I want to see greater enthusiasm, better skills, positive attitudes, keenness and competition for spots on the team and I want to see healthier, fitter bodies on the park.

I want to see evidence that our intensity has gone up from last year's 60% of "elite" to 80% as promised. Show me Speedy Gonzales, the Road Runner and some tough guy characters, but most of all, the spirit of the hero, prevailing over all those who connive to defeat and dominate us.

On with the show, this is it!

(27.1.2013)

PERSPECTIVE by Whispering Jack

Perspective. That's what it's all about at this time of year. We see them on the park but even when they're doing the really competitive stuff like match simulation, we just don't know the extent of the improvement that must be subsumed and incorporated within the group.

One player who has been mentioned as an improver in despatches is Tom McDonald and I imagined that, at 194cm and 92kg, he would loom large among the players. But when I arrived and saw the number 25 out there early with three others, including Dan Nicholson and Jack Viney, he looked tiny. That's because the fourth player in the early group was Max Gawn who is positively a monster at 208cm and 107kg. That's perspective.

Max put on his GPS and after a bit of a run around he disappeared into the wild blue yonder. I don't know when he'll be ready (it's said he's still on the long term injury list), but I can't help thinking that a bloke of that size who moves so smoothly might be a damn important asset if he can get it all together.

There's no "might" about the other early birds. Jack Viney is going to make a difference and his infusion into the midfield, along with that of another classy mover in Jimmy Toumpas will aid our quest to revive our stocks in this all-important part of the ground. Those two might be young and raw but, of the top ten newcomers out of the draft, they're the only ones with experience playing the game with and against men. And Jack Grimes, who will give a lot of service in the midfield this year, has the look of a captain this year. Now, if only we can get his co-skipper up and running, that midfield might well dig itself out of the third world territory it has occupied for the best part of a decade. There's a bit more run there too with Dan Nicholson and Sam Blease showing a fair bit of toe.

Once I got the other early bird, Tom McDonald into the right perspective, he looked all right too. I'm not putting too high an expectation on him though. He's only 20 and while he did have some terrific break out games last year, he's still got plenty of work to do but along with James Frawley, Tom Garland and Jack Watts (and maybe James Sellar), he will add a bit of class and stability to the back half.

I'm not getting carried away by all means. After all, the team was so much on the nose in 2012 after promising a lot in the pre season. We even belted Collingwood in a NAB Cup game and we thought ourselves at one with the universe until the Big Bang came and hit us on a weekly basis for months until many of us were invoking the mercy rule before midseason. We gained a lot of perspective as a consequence.

I'm not going to rave about the mature age recruits on a little over an hour's exposure but Chris Dawes and Cam Pedersen, despite some detractors from the clubs they left, appear as if they are going to add lots to what was a very undermanned forward line last year, particularly after Mitch Clark fell. While we're at it, Clark ran around a bit and kicked well with his left and is supposed to be on track for a start in the first month of what they call the regular season.

There's been a lot said about the failure of many of Melbourne's early draft picks to develop as quickly as we would like, but less said about the fact that many of them including Blease, Grimes, James Strauss, Luke Tapscott, Watts and a couple of others missed great slabs of what should have been development time through injuries and missed out in previous years on much needed pre season work. Well, they're getting it now and, in doing so, we're ticking that very big box that requires players to be injury free at this time of year. We should see much more advancement, better prospects of development and hence, a greater depth of talent available for selection than in the past.

In that regard, I will nominate my big improver for 2013 as Neville Jetta who appears to be thriving under this new regimen. I reckon Aaron Davey might just be ready to reinvent himself as he goes around for another year: a prospect that some might have thought doubtful when he struggled through games in the past two seasons. Both players are thriving now whereas in recent years, they haven't been on the track.

There were others but it was the first time in a while and I'm still learning new numbers, faces and styles. Sooner or later, I'll get it all in the right perspective.

I won't venture to say how much we'll improve in 2013 but I note the AFL Prospectus has us down with the 13th best list, which even without the prospect of a good draw, a healthier list and more stability at the club, suggests we'll at least double our number of wins. Still, I'm not going to get carried away just yet.

I must add two final points from what I saw. Neil Craig looked really in command at training today and what a great choice he makes in that assisting senior head honcho role? And the kid wearing # 1 looked the goods for a 17 year old, so much so that I might get myself a few extra doses of perspective at Casey Fields this year.

The show rolls on into February but for now ... it's yibbida, yibbida. That's all folks!

(28.1.2013)

I've been to training twice and have made similar observations (and had the same identification problems) as you WJ. One bloke who stood out for me is Nicholson. You made mention of him but do you put him in the big improver category?

  On 29/01/2013 at 07:08, Bitter but optimistic said:

I've been to training twice and have made similar observations (and had the same identification problems) as you WJ. One bloke who stood out for me is Nicholson. You made mention of him but do you put him in the big improver category?

I don't think the big improver category just yet BBO. Last pre-season he was "flying" as well, but did we see him as a "big improver" in 2012? Not really IMO.

When the games start up, that's the best evidence to go by.

You can run all session in the pre-season, be in the top running group each week, but it amounts to not much if you can't get the pill and be a dominant contributor onfield.

Yeah, I'll reserve my judgement until I see him playing under match pressure.

He was pretty good around this time last year and while he's looking even better this year, let's just see what happens when the real action starts.